Summertime
by Lkay09
Summary: Seven summers with Lily and James. AU, one-shot, L/J, R&R?


_Before First Year_

"Where are you going to school this year Lily?" The little boy with glasses asked. Lily looked down at her feet, knowing he wasn't really going to like her answer. And she hated having to lie to him, about anything. He was her best friend.

She sighed before answering, "I'm going away to a boarding school next year. Sorry Jamie."

Jamie looked sadder than before. "I am too." Neither of them dared to hope that they were going to the same place.

"James!"

Jamie looked over his shoulder towards his house and moved to stand off the bench they were sitting on. A tear rolled down Lily's cheek and, seeing it, Jamie leaned over and gave her a hug.

"It's okay Lily-pad. We'll write to each other, and during the summers we will still be neighbors and you'll always be my best friend, 'kay?"

Lily sniffled and nodded.

"I'm gonna miss you James Potter. I'll see you next summer."

"I'll miss you too Lily Evans."

Except they saw each other much sooner than they thought – during Sorting, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

_Before Second Year_

Peals of laughter erupted from the Potter's backyard, causing Lily in her own to jump and turn before peering over the fence and spotting four boys rolling around on the grass, all clutching their stomachs and laughing.

Excited, Lily dashed through her house and across their front yards. Yelling a quick hello to Mrs Potter as she ran past, Lily sprinted into James's backyard.

"Jamie!" she squealed as she ran towards him. Sensing what she was going to do, James stood quickly and opened his arms just in time for her to throw herself into them.

They separated, oblivious to the way the other three boys were staring at them.

"How was your trip to France?" she asked excitedly.

"Oh you know, same old France, different day. How has your summer been so far?"

"Nothing new really. Tuney still calls me freak sometimes, but now she's just starting to ignore me."

"That sucks Lily-pad-"

A snort of laughter interrupted them.

"Lily-pad?" A black-haired boy asked derisively. James shot him a warning look, but he ignored it.

"Black," Lily said coolly. "Remus," she added much more warmly.

"Hi Lily," the sandy-haired boy returned.

"Look," Black interrupted, "I know you and James are 'best friends'," he rolled his eyes and made air quotes around the words, "but he is also _our_ best friend, and _you_ are not welcome here. So go."

Lily leveled her coldest glare at him, but he didn't flinch.

"Fine," she said huffily.

James glared at Sirius as well, and turned to walk with Lily, who was already striding away angrily. He caught up to her and looped an arm over her shoulders.

"Ignore Sirius," he said to her softly. Lily didn't even look at him. "Come on Lils! _He_ said it, not me!"

Lily sighed. "Fine," she repeated, although less angrily.

"Come over later, okay? We'll swim!" He gestured in a general direction back towards his pool.

Lily smiled.

_Before Third Year_

"I think I'm going to ask someone out this year, Sirius."

They were floating around in James's pool.

"Please, _please_, tell me you aren't talking about Evans!" Sirius practically begged his best friend as he swam over towards him.

"Oh, no! That would totally mess up our friendship, and I wouldn't risk that for anything. Plus, with her, it has to be a _relationship_, and right now I'm thinking more along the lines of…_playing the field_." Their faces broke into nearly identical grins.

On the other side of the fence, Lily set down her book and wiped her face, pretending like her best friends words hadn't hurt.

_Before Fourth Year_

"How's Quidditch going?" James and Lily sat in the Potters's kitchen, munching on the various snacks Mrs Potter had put out.

James snorted. "Like you care. Come on Lily, I know you don't like Quidditch."

Lily brushed her bangs out of her eyes, impatiently wrapping her hair into a messy bun and picking up an apple.

"Yeah, but you're my best friend, so I can pretend to be interested while tuning you out and daydreaming about that sixth year Ravenclaw."

"Hey!" James said indignantly. "No daydreaming about other guys while talking to me!" He ran a hand through his hair, a trait that was becoming more and more prevalent as the months passed. "But," he added, leaning in conspiratorially, "I've heard that he has noticed you too."

Lily squealed. "Really?"

"Yeah," James said, laughing slightly. "Really."

Lily blushed, thankful that now she would have something to distract her other than James's parade of bimbos.

_Before Fifth Year_

"Honestly, James, I don't get what you see in her." The two of them descended the stairs slowly in Lily's house. "She's a complete idiot and you could honestly do so much better. But then again, the only girl you haven't dated yet is me, and so I guess you're out of luck. But I swear if she is over at your house when we go swim, I will kick your ass."

James laughed, "No, but Remus and Sirius are."

"Oh," Lily replied. "Well they're okay."

They continued to walk towards James's house, still debating the intelligence of James's latest girlfriend, who also lived only a few blocks away.

"Uh…guys?"

James and Lily turned to look at Sirius and Remus, already standing in the pool.

"Do you maybe want to quit arguing so that we can swim?' Remus asked with a laugh in the back of his throat. The two blushed and laughed as well.

James tugged off his t-shirt and jumped right it, shouting "CANNONBALL!" Lily pulled her eyes away from the muscles in his stomach and arms, and slowly slipped out of the dress she had over her bathing suit.

James turned to tell Lily to hurry up and get in already when he caught sight of her. His jaw dropped, and he could practically hear Sirius's dropping as well.

Lily was _hot_. She was thin, but not freakishly thin like some girls wanted to be, and she had really, _really_ nice long legs that were surprisingly muscular. She was pulling her red waves out of their messy bun and they cascaded down to the middle of her back.

"What?" she asked, catching them all staring. "Is there something on my bathing suit?" She turned around slightly, inspecting the red and gold (Gryffindor colors, James noted hazily) two piece she had on, and gave them a perfect view of her rear. James closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, hoping against hope that when he opened them, Lily would be same old Lily, with the books and jeans and average looks.

Nope.

She dove in, her hair trailing behind her, and James found his eyes following her a lot. How had he never noticed how graceful she was in the water, how excellent a swimmer she was?

James sighed. Bloody hell.

_Before Sixth Year_

"Lily," James repeated for what felt like the hundredth time in the last thirty minutes. He knocked on the door to her room again. "Come on, Lily, talk to me!"

The door swung open in front of him, and his relief was cancelled out by the way she was glaring at him.

"For heaven's sake, _what_ do you want Potter?" She spat out.

"Lily, I just want to talk to you, okay?"

Lily shook her head and gave a bitter laugh. "So it's back to Lily now? What happened to 'Evans', hmm?"

James swallowed. "I just wanted to see if maybe we could go swim at my house. You know – like old times?"

Another bitter laugh. "Potter, in order for it to be like 'old times', you have to be the old you, my _real_ best friend. But you haven't been that guy for almost a year now. Actually, you haven't been that guy for awhile. Because _that_ James Potter wouldn't have snogged his way through the school and then turned to his best friend to finish off the list. He wouldn't have asked _me_ if I cared to join him in a broom closet on the third floor, and he wouldn't have been such an asshole to _everyone_ last year. I like the other James Potter, the one that was just as excited about Hogwarts as me, excited about learning magic even though he'd known about it all his life. The little kid who promised me we would always be best friends. Where the hell did he go?"

Lily drew a breath and, staring at the spot above James's head, continued in a slightly calmer voice.

"I meant what I said by the lake a few weeks ago, and I won't take it back because you all of a sudden are so remorseful. Now get out of my house, Potter."

And she shut the door again, leaving James wondering why he felt so utterly heartbroken.

_Before Seventh Year_

"Hi Lily," he said hesitantly.

"James," she replied, just as hesitantly.

"Want to…umm, swim?"

"Sure."

The two of them walked slowly from the small market down the street towards their houses, neither of them saying a word. James's changes in personality had been for the better this time, but Lily still never was sure how she felt about him anymore. There was so much they needed to talk about, but neither of them wanted to be the one to bring it up.

James dropped Lily off at her house and walked slowly across her yard to his, trying to think of what he was going to say to her. He knew he needed to tell her how he _really_ felt about her, but the thought made him want to drown himself in his pool.

The two of them swam around silently for awhile, occasionally venturing comments on how nice the water was, how warm the day, how sad the next year would be. Finally, James couldn't take it any longer.

"Lily, I need your advice on something."

Looking slightly hesitant and nervous, Lily nodded, and the two of them settled themselves on the small shelf in the shallow end of the pool.

"It's about a girl," he began, and Lily tensed. "I really like her, more than I've ever liked another girl. Actually, I think I might be in love with her. But I don't know how she feels about me, and I want to tell her how I feel but I'm really, really nervous about it, and I don't know what I would say. What if she doesn't like me back?"

Lily sighed and began playing with a strand of her hair. "James," she began, then paused. "What's she like? The girl, I mean."

A small smile appeared on James's face. "She's amazing. So beautiful, but she doesn't know it, and intelligent. Funny, and sweet, and caring, and everything I should have seen all along."

While James stared off into space for a moment, Lily quickly swiped at her face, knowing that if he was serious about this girl, she was about to lose everything she'd dreamed of since she was six.

"Then you should tell her," she replied softly. "If you feel that strongly about her, then tell her the truth, and hope for the best. But don't tell her in one of your arrogant James Potter ways. Be the real you, the you the Marauders and I get to see."

And she swam off to the other end, situating herself on the small seat behind the waterfall, trying to keep her heart from breaking.

James snapped out of his daze and watched her go, realizing with dread that she must have thought he was actually talking about another girl, and that he might have just blown it for good. Determined to salvage this, he swam over to her and sat next to her. Their legs rubbed together – the seat wasn't very big.

"Lily," he said softly.

"What?" she asked, not looking at him.

"Lily," he repeated, and this time when she turned towards him, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. He pulled away after a moment, blushing and praying that she had the same feelings as him.

Lily touched her lips dazedly, trying to process what had happened.

"James…what about the…the girl you were just telling me about?"

He ran a hand through his hair nervously and smiled sheepishly.

"It's you Lily. I just never saw it before, and I was such an idiot, and I'm sorry. But I needed to tell you. It's you. It's always been you."

Lily bit her lip, trying to contain the enormous smile threatening to take over her entire face. James took her silence as embarrassment and that she didn't feel the same way. He made to move away, already mentally preparing himself for the drowning, when he felt her hand on his arm.

He continued looking at the bottom of the pool until her hand reached up and gently turned his face towards her. Before he could even blink, she had captured his lips with hers, and he was lost in bliss.

They separated a few moments later, their foreheads pressed together, and their noses grazing.

"You too," she whispered against his lips. "It's always been you too, James."

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